: Sunday July 29 12:35 PM ET
: Typhoon Toraji Engulfs Taiwan, Shuts Markets

Wednesday August 1 2:29 AM ET

Hopes Fade for 100 Missing From Taiwan Typhoon

By Alice Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan rescuers searched for a third day on Wednesday for over 100 people swept away by flash floods or buried under mud and rock in one of the island's deadliest storms, but hopes of finding survivors were fading.

The death toll from Typhoon Toraji has risen to 72 people, with 134 people still missing, the National Fire Administration's disaster response center said.

Officials say the search will go on until after most of the missing are accounted for. If the death toll rises to 200, it would be the highest in nearly four decades.

The storm, which ripped through Taiwan on Sunday and Monday, caused agricultural losses of T$3.52 billion (US$101 million) in central and eastern Taiwan and some $20 million in China's southeastern province of Fujian before fizzling out.

There were no immediate reports of deaths in China.

Rock and mudslides as well as flash floods triggered by torrential rains were blamed for most of the casualties and officials warned this would not be the last.

``Rock and mudslides will continue to pose a threat to Taiwan in the next 10 years,'' Lin Jiann-jang, acting secretary-general of the Water and Soil Conservation Bureau, told Reuters.

``Taiwan's natural condition, coupled with man-made destruction, make the island prone to rock and mudslides.''

Over-development in mountainous areas has hastened soil erosion but a devastating earthquake in 1999, which killed almost 2,500 people, made things even worse.

``The geological structure is very fragile after the September 21 (1999) earthquake,'' said Liu Tsung-kuei, a professor of geosciences at the National Taiwan University.

``These are highly dangerous places. People should not be allowed to live there in the first place,'' Liu said.

The worst hit-areas included the eastern coastal county of Hualien, where the storm roared ashore, and the mountainous central county of Nantou, which is still reeling from the quake.

``People should be warned of the risk well in advance. By the time it happens, it's already too late,'' Liu said.

Typhoons and tropical storms frequently hit Taiwan, neighboring Philippines and Hong Kong and elsewhere on the southern coast of China during the summer months.

They draw their strength from the warm waters of the South China Sea and, if they don't do a u-turn, weaken after making landfall.

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